Challenges in Evaluating a Community-Level Intervention to Address Root Causes of Youth Violence.

Violence disproportionately impacts Black American youth, representing a major health disparity. Addressing the possible root causes of structural inequities to reduce violence may increase the impact of prevention strategies. However, efforts to evaluate the impact of such interventions pose numerous methodological challenges, particularly around selecting an effective evaluation design to detect change at the community level, with adequate power and sampling, and appropriate constructs and measurement strategies.

Relations Between Perceptions of Parental Messages Supporting Fighting and Nonviolence and Adolescents' Physical Aggression: Beliefs as Mediators.

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescents' beliefs about fighting as mediators of longitudinal relations between perceptions of parental support for fighting and nonviolence and changes in adolescents' physical aggression. Participants were 2,575 middle school students ( = 12.20, = 1.

Patterns of alcohol use among middle school students in rural communities: Associations with community violence exposure.

Stress-coping theory posits that exposure to stressors, such as community violence, increases risk for early alcohol initiation. The current study identified patterns of alcohol use in an ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents in rural communities, and examined relations between different forms of exposure to community violence and severity of adolescents' alcohol use patterns. Participants were 5011 middle school students (46.

Relations between youths' community violence exposure and their physical aggression: The protective role of adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether adults moderated the relations between youths' community violence exposure and subsequent physical aggression. Participants were 2575 middle school students (M  = 12.3, SD = 1.

Beliefs as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression During Early Adolescence.

This study examined beliefs about aggression and self-efficacy for nonviolent responses as mediators of longitudinal relations between exposure to violence and physical aggression. Participants were a predominantly African American (79%) sample of 2,705 early adolescents from three middle schools within urban neighborhoods with high rates of violence. Participants completed measures across four waves (fall, winter, spring, and summer) within a school year.

Peer Factors as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression in Middle School Students in a Low-Income Urban Community.

Objective: Although prior research has demonstrated that peers influence both physical aggression and exposure to violence during adolescence, few studies have investigated the extent to which peers play a role in relations between physical aggression and violence exposure. This longitudinal study examined peer pressure for fighting, friends' delinquent behavior, and friends' support for fighting as mediators of relations between exposure to violence through witnessing and victimization, and adolescents' frequency of physical aggression.

Method: Participants were 2,707 adolescents attending three urban middle schools (age = 12.

Patterns of community violence exposure among urban adolescents and their associations with adjustment.

Community violence exposure is prevalent among urban and marginalized adolescents. Although there is strong evidence that community violence exposure is associated with negative consequences, prior studies and theories suggest that these associations may differ as a function of specific characteristics of exposure. This study identified patterns of community violence exposure that differed in form (witnessing vs.

Early Adolescents' Social Goals in Peer Conflict Situations: A Mixed Methods Study.

Identification of goals is a key social-cognitive process that guides whether adolescents engage in aggressive or nonviolent behavior during social conflicts. This study investigated early adolescents' goals in response to hypothetical social conflict situations involving close friends and peers. Participants ( = 160; = 12.

Childhood adversity and co-occurring post-traumatic stress and externalizing symptoms among a predominantly low-income, African American sample of early adolescents.

Although there is strong evidence supporting the association between childhood adversity and symptomatology during adolescence, the extent to which adolescents present with distinct patterns of co-occurring post-traumatic stress (PTS) and externalizing symptoms remains unclear. Additionally, prior research suggests that experiencing nonviolent, negative life events may be more salient risk factors for developing some forms of psychopathology than exposure to violence. The current study used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of early adolescents with distinct patterns of PTS, physical aggression, delinquency, and substance use, and examined subgroup differences in exposure to three forms of violent and nonviolent childhood adversity.

Latent classes of aggression and peer victimization: Measurement invariance and differential item functioning across sex, race-ethnicity, cohort, and study site.

Peer victimization is common and linked to maladjustment. Prior research has typically identified four peer victimization subgroups: aggressors, victims, aggressive-victims, and uninvolved. However, findings related to sex and racial-ethnic differences in subgroup membership have been mixed.

Psychophysiological underpinnings of proactive and reactive aggression in young men and women.

Reactive aggression is posited to occur as a result of hypersensitivity to threat, whereas fearlessness may drive proactive aggression. This study aimed to test if physiological fear reactivity differentially relates to self-report reactive and proactive aggression using immersive virtual reality fear (VR) induction. We collected subjective fear ratings and sympathetic (SNS; skin conductance) and parasympathetic (PNS; respiratory sinus arrhythmia) nervous system reactivity during an interactive VR horror video.

The influence of exposure to violence on adolescents' physical aggression: The protective influence of peers.

Introduction: This study examined the degree to which peers can serve as a protective factor to mitigate the negative effects of exposure to violence (i.e., victimization, witnessing violence) on adolescents' physical aggression.

Evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in US Urban Middle Schools Using a Multiple Baseline Experimental Design.

We evaluated the impact of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) in an 8-year study in urban middle schools that served primarily African American students living in low-income areas. Participants included 2755 students and 242 teachers. We evaluated the OBPP with a multiple-baseline experimental design where the order and intervention start time was randomly assigned for each school.

Adolescents' Appraisal of Responses to Problem Situations and Their Relation to Aggression and Nonviolent Behavior.

Objective: This study investigated adolescents' appraisals of responses to problematic situations and their relations to behavioral intentions for aggressive and nonviolent behavior. A key question was whether ratings of effective and ineffective nonviolent responses and aggressive responses reflect distinct constructs or opposite ends of a single dimension.

Method: A sample of 183 students at three middle schools in an urban public school system serving a mostly African American population completed measures of aggression, and rated responses to hypothetical situations on five dimensions: behavioral intention, effectiveness, descriptive norms, and anticipated reactions from friends and parents.

Patterns of Adolescents' Appraisals of Responses to Problem Situations: Associations with Aggression, Victimization, and Contextual Factors.

Although considerable research has examined factors that influence social-cognitive processes related to aggression, few studies have examined the factors that influence adolescents' appraisal of the effectiveness of responses, particularly nonviolent alternatives to aggression. This study addressed that gap by examining patterns of adolescents' perceived effectiveness of nonviolent and aggressive responses to hypothetical problem situations and their relations with aggression, victimization, and individual and contextual risk factors. The participants were a predominantly African American (90%) sample of 1469 students (55% female; mean age = 12.

Differential Longitudinal Outcomes of In-Person and Cyber Victimization in Early Adolescence.

Objective: Few studies have tested a commonly held assumption that cyber victimization is more harmful than in-person victimization. This study examined differential longitudinal relations between in-person and cyber victimization and outcomes, including problem behaviors and distress symptoms. Possible moderation by gender and grade was also explored.

Patterns of Parental Messages Supporting Fighting and Nonviolence Among Urban Middle School Students.

The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of adolescents with distinct perceptions of parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence. Latent class analysis identified four subgroups among 2,619 urban middle school students (90% African American; 52% female): messages supporting fighting (32%), messages supporting nonviolence (29%), mixed messages (23%), and no messages (16%). We found significant differences across subgroups in their frequency of physical aggression and peer victimization and beliefs about the use of aggressive and nonviolent responses to peer provocation.

Bidirectional Relations between Witnessing Violence, Victimization, Life Events, and Physical Aggression among Adolescents in Urban Schools.

Although there is empirical evidence supporting associations between exposure to violence and engaging in physically aggressive behavior during adolescence, there is limited longitudinal research to determine the extent to which exposure to violence is a cause or a consequence of physical aggression, and most studies have not addressed the influence of other negative life events experienced by adolescents. This study examined bidirectional relations between physical aggression, two forms of exposure to violence-witnessing violence and victimization, and other negative life events. Participants were a sample of 2568 adolescents attending three urban public middle schools who completed measures of each construct every 3 months during middle school.

Social and Emotional Adjustment Across Aggressor/Victim Subgroups: Are Aggressive-Victims Distinct?

Despite prior studies supporting the existence of "aggressive-victims", it remains unclear if they possess unique risk factors from adolescents who are mostly aggressive or victimized. The present study sought to determine whether aggressive-victims differ from adolescents with distinct patterns of involvement in aggression and victimization in their social and emotional adjustment. Secondary analyses were conducted on baseline data from 984 seventh grade students (54% female) from three schools.

Longitudinal relations between trauma-related psychological distress and physical aggression among urban early adolescents.

Unlabelled: There is convincing evidence that trauma-related psychological distress and aggressive behavior are highly related among adolescents. The evidence is less clear regarding the direction of this relation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine reciprocal longitudinal relations between trauma-related distress and physical aggression.

Deviant Peer Factors During Early Adolescence: Cause or Consequence of Physical Aggression?

This study investigated reciprocal relations between adolescents' physical aggression and their perceptions of peers' deviant behaviors and attitudes. Analyses were conducted on four waves of data from 2,290 adolescents (ages 10-16) from three urban middle schools. Autoregression models revealed reciprocal relations between peer factors (i.

Spatial Analysis of the Impact of a School-Level Youth Violence Prevention Program on Violent Crime Incidents in the Community.

This study investigated the effect of a school-based violence prevention program on community rates of violence for youth aged 10 to 18 in three urban communities with high rates of crime and poverty. We evaluated the impact of the Olweus Bully Prevention Program (OBPP) combined with a family intervention using a multiple baseline design in which we randomized the order and timing of intervention activities across three schools. Outcomes were police reports of violent crime incidents involving offenders aged 10 to 18 years (N = 2859 incidents) across a 6-year period.

A Longitudinal Study of the Bidirectional Relations Between Anxiety Symptoms and Peer Victimization in Urban Adolescents.

The current study examined bidirectional relations between anxious symptoms and two forms of peer victimization (i.e., overt and relational) within an underrepresented sample of urban adolescents during key transition periods (i.

Longitudinal relations between beliefs supporting aggression and externalizing outcomes: Indirect effects of anger dysregulation and callous-unemotional traits.

Aggression is prevalent in early- to mid-adolescence and is associated with physical health and psychosocial adjustment difficulties. This underscores the need to identify risk processes that lead to externalizing outcomes. This study examined the extent to which the effects of three dimensions of beliefs supporting aggression on physical aggression and externalizing behavior are mediated by anger dysregulation and callous-unemotional (CU) traits.

Dating violence perpetration and perceived parental support for fighting and nonviolent responses to conflict: An autoregressive cross-lagged model.

Introduction: The current study examined longitudinal and bidirectional relationships between adolescent perceptions of parental support for fighting and nonviolent responses to conflict and dating violence perpetration. These relationships were examined among a sample of predominately African American youth from an economically disadvantaged urban neighborhood in the United States, a group of adolescents who may be at a high risk for dating violence and for receiving a mixture of parental support for how to respond in conflict situations.

Method: Participants were 1014 early adolescents (51% female, 91% African American) who were currently dating or had been recently dating.